NPR foreign reporter Sylvia Poggioli, born in Providence, is retiring after 41 years

Katie Landeck, The Providence Journal
·2 min read
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National Public Radio reporter Sylvia Poggioli, the longest-serving reporter on NPR’s International Desk, is retiring after 41 years.

“Imagining NPR without Sylvia Poggioli veers toward the impossible,” said Didrik Schanche, international editor, and Edith Chapin, acting senior vice president of news in the announcement, calling her an NPR icon. “Her lilting, Italian-accented signoff is widely recognized and beloved by listeners. And her star power excites world leaders.”

As the European correspondent, Poggioli's home base was Rome, but she’s traveled throughout the continent to report on stories and all over the world when accompanying Pope Francis on foreign visits.

Before she became an international traveler, she was born in Providence.

Sylvia Poggioli, senior European correspondent for National Public Radio's foreign desk, receives a doctorate of humane letters hood, honoris Causa, during the 2006 University of Massachusetts graduation in Boston.
Sylvia Poggioli, senior European correspondent for National Public Radio's foreign desk, receives a doctorate of humane letters hood, honoris Causa, during the 2006 University of Massachusetts graduation in Boston.

As she prepares to leave NPR, Poggioli says her plans are to work on a biography of her father, Renato Poggioli. Her father was an Italian academic and one of the founders of comparative literature in the United States. He was an anti-fascist who was forced to flee Italy with his wife, Renata, under Mussolini.

Fluent in five languages, he was first a professor at Smith College before taking a job at Brown University from 1939 to 1947. Poggioli was born during her father's final year teaching at Brown, before he moved on to teach at Harvard University until 1963.

His anti-fascist politics resulted in his being closely monitored by the Italian government, even when he was living in Rhode Island, according to Poggioli’s research. And in 1943, he had a choice between an internment camp or being drafted into the war, according to Poggioli, after being labeled a citizen enemy of the United States. He went to war.

But beyond his politics, he also filled the house with Italian and poetry, which benefited Poggioli in her career.

Poggioli's career

Poggioli graduated from Harvard University, and then moved to Italy after college on a Fulbright scholarship. In 1982, she joined the NPR’s foreign desk.

She’s won many awards, including a George Foster Peabody Award, National Women's Political Caucus/Radcliffe College Exceptional Merit Media Awards, the Edward Weintal Journalism Prize, the Silver Angel Excellence in the Media Award and the Maria Grazia Cutuli Award for foreign reporting.

On Saturday, March 25, Poggioli will be on "Weekend Edition" for a farewell interview.

As she neared her last broadcast, Poggioli thanked her audience on Twitter.

“What can I say? I am stunned, overwhelmed and tremendously moved by the outpouring of so much affection and praise from @NPR listeners, colleagues, friends and strangers!,” she wrote. “It’s an honor to have had such an attentive and loyal audience. Thank you and mille grazie!!!”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Sylvia Poggioli, NPR correspondent born in Rhode Island, retiring